Uhuru offers lifeline for KCPE, KCSE students who did not make to take exams

Candidates sit for their KCSE exam. President Kenyatta has ordered special exams of candidates who may miss tests due to unavoidable circumstances.

KCPE and KCSE students who did not sit for their exams to unavoidable circumstances will be sit for supplementary exams giving them a second chance after a directive to the Education ministry by President Kenyatta.

The President issued the directive after meeting with Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i and senior ministry officials at Harambee House shortly before exams were released on Tuesday.

“The president has directed the CS and his ministry to set special supplementary examinations for a special cadre of students who because of compassionate reasons may usually have difficulty doing exams during the normal exams calendar,” State House spokesman Manoah Esipisu said in a statement.

Approximately 10,000 students out of the registered 1,003,556 candidates were unable to sit for their KCPE exams for various reasons. The will now have a second chance to do so.

993,718 candidates took the three-day examinations under tight security and the exact number of those who missed under these special circumstances was not immediately available

The strict nature of the national exams calendar has in the past locked out students who fell sick and they have had to re-register and sit for the exam a year later.

“These special examinations may be undertaken by students who may be ill, lose their parents, or give birth during the normal examinations calendar,” Mr Esipisu elaborated on the president’s directive.

“This is already the practice around the world. We have been lagging behind that and I think it is time to bridge the gap.”